Lagwagon

Lagwagon may have won the award for most self-aware album title of the year with its new EP, I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen ToLagwagon. While this statement could read as self-deprecating, it's most likely true for anybody who learned how to kick-flip from their older sibling within the last two decades. The perennial Fat Wreck Chords band has been grinding out tunes for eighteen years, while barely modifying its brand of melodic (but not quite pop) skate-punk. Although the lack of stylistic curveballs could be disheartening coming from some bands, Lagwagon has always been more infatuated with angsty authenticity than originality. Brother proves that the group hasn't lost its knack for tunes that beg to blast forth from battery-operated boombox speakers and reverberate through a half-pipe.